Stat 470W Problem Solving and Communication in Applied Statistics (3)
Instructor:
Dr. Linda Clark
323B Thomas Building
865-3134
Lus2@psu.edu (best way to reach me)
Course Objectives
1. Be able to recognize experimental design
2. Have a working knowledge of SAS
3. Be able to apply statistical knowledge to real world problems
4. Be able to communicate statistical findings through written and verbal
communication
Class Meeting Times:
T/Th 9:45 – 11:00 365 Willard
PLEASE NOTE: We will occasionally join STAT 580/581 through the semester.
These meetings will be announced in advance. If you have a COURSE conflict,
please let me know right away.
Required Reading: Assigned journal articles and selected chapter (available
through ANGEL)
Recommended Resources: Biostatistical Analysis (4th Edition) (Hardcover)
Jerrold H. Zar
Learning SAS in the Computer Lab (3rd Edition). Elliott,
R.J and Morrell, C.H.
This course is a seminar format course. Class attendance and participation is
critical to your success in the course. Just showing up is not participation. You
will need to be actively engaged in the course during class meeting periods or
your grade will suffer.
The schedule below is a tentative schedule. Due to the nature of the course and
the interactions with the Statistical Consulting Center (SCC) some of the
assignments may be dispersed throughout the semester. However, all students
are responsible for all work.
There will be writing assignments almost every week in the course. Typically the
assignments will be assigned on a Thursday and due the next Thursday
BEFORE class. The three main assignments for this course consist of a
previous SCC project done in a small group format, a current SCC project, and a
class wide project. This is a writing intensive course so all written work will be
graded in terms of grammatical correctness, clarity of writing, and accuracy of
content.
Grading of Written Work:
Essays will be graded on a scale of 1 to 25. For assignments that do not require
statistical analysis the grading will be out of 20 points. Points will be assigned in
the following manner:





5pt for answering the question and strength of argument;
5pts for correct interpretation of data/results;
5pts for clarity and conciseness of writing;
5pts for grammar, spelling;
5pts for overall professionalism.
In addition to the grading of the written work class participation will reflect 15% of
your total grade. Participation is based on three components 1) attendance, 2)
meaningful participation 3) attentiveness (this includes being on time to class).
“Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational
programs. If you have a disability-related need for reasonable academic
adjustments in this course, contact the Office for Disability Services (ODS) at
814-863-1807 (V/TTY). For further information regarding ODS, please visit the
Office for Disability Services Web site at http://equity.psu.edu/ods/ . In order to
receive consideration for course accommodations, you must contact ODS and
provide documentation (see the documentation guidelines at
http://equity.psu.edu/ods/guidelines/documentation-guidelines ). If the
documentation supports the need for academic adjustments, ODS will provide a
letter identifying appropriate academic adjustments. Please share this letter and
discuss the adjustments with your instructor as early in the course as possible.
You must contact ODS and request academic adjustment letters at the beginning
of each semester.”
All Penn State policies regarding ethics and honorable behavior apply to this
course (see links below for policy statements). Academic integrity is the pursuit of
scholarly activity free from fraud and deception and is an educational objective of
this institution. All University policies regarding academic integrity apply to this
course.
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing,
fabricating of information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by
others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of
another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or
tampering with the academic work of other students. For any material or ideas
obtained from other sources, such as the text or things you see on the web, in
the library, etc., a source reference must be given. Direct quotes from any source
must be identified as such. All exam answers must be your own, and you must
not provide any assistance to other students during exams. Any instances of
academic dishonesty WILL be pursued under the University and Eberly College
of Science regulations concerning academic integrity.
Topic
Intro to the
Course and
SCC
Working with
clients/Present
ation of Class
Long Term
Project
SCC Short
Term
Projects/Intro
to SAS
Computer
Lab/Importing
Data
Research
Design
EDA/ANOVA
Proc Mixed
Computer LAB
Proc
Mixed/EDA
Presentation
Reading
Read
Chatfield
Avoiding
Statistical
Pitfalls for
Thursday
discussion
Assignment
 Computer Account
Forms, SCC forms
 Chatfield Written
Assignment


Read chapters
1 and 2 of
Cohen for Lab



Meeting Summary for
Long Term Project
Writing Assignment:
Working with Clients?
Summary of SAS
Output
Q Drive formatted
First Meeting Summary
of Short Term Projects

Written Assignment:
Compromises of Long
Term Project


EDA write up due
Proc Mixed output and
interpretation
Terenzini pp
654 – end. Be
familiar with
the “cube” on
page 648
Chapters 1-4
Canavos
Chapters 1
and 14 of
Montgomery
Read Zar
reading
Read SAS
Manual
Reading
Read Ott and
Longnecker
Logistic
Regression/C
omputer Lab
Long Term
Project/Catch
Up
Short Term
Project
Updates
Long Term
Project
Other
Statistical
Techniques
(Factor
Analysis,
Categorical
Analyses)
Designing
Surveys
Ethics and
Research/Dea
ling with
Difficult
Clients
Long Term
Project
Presentation
Short Term
Project
Presentations
Summary of
580
Observations/
Course Wrapup
Read Pampel
Reading


Logistic Regression
Output and
interpretation due
Long Term Project
Progress Report (intro,
EDA, inferential
statistics draft)
Read Hair
Reading
Read Dillman
Read
Krathwohl
Select three of the other
techniques and develop a
scenario where you might use
these techniques
Read
Krathwohl,
ethics
Ethics Writing Assignment
Human Subjects Assignment

Long Term write up due

Complete Short Term
Write Up due

Critique of 580/581
presentations